Netflix co-founder and CEO, Reed Hastings, is in Sydney to meet with executives of other subscription streaming services on Feb. 25, 2022.
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Netflix shares fell nearly 9% in extended trading on Thursday after the streaming giant released its first-quarter earnings report.
The company beat Wall Street expectations for revenue, reporting $12.25 billion for the first quarter, topping the $12.18 billion expected by analysts polled by LSEG and 16% higher than the $10.54 billion it reported in the year-ago quarter.
Thursday marked the company’s first earnings report since it walked away from its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming and film assets in February.
Netflix reported net income of $5.28 billion, or $1.23, nearly double the $2.89 billion, or 66 cents per share, that it reported during the same period last year. The company cited higher-than-projected operating income and the $2.8 billion termination fee that it received after the WBD deal fell through.
Reported EPS was not immediately comparable to analyst expectations of 76 cents.
On Thursday Netflix also announced that Reed Hastings, Netflix’s co-founder and current chairman, would exit the board in June when his term expires.
Hastings stepped down from his CEO role in 2023. Greg Peters, who had served as chief operating officer, stepped into the co-CEO role alongside Ted Sarandos.
“Netflix changed my life in so many ways, and my all‑time favorite memory was January 2016, when we enabled nearly the entire planet to enjoy our service,” Hastings said in the company’s shareholder letter on Thursday. Hastings will now focus on philanthropy and other pursuits, according to the letter.
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